Mad Max prequel Furiosa was originally developed as an anime spin-off, and has been ready for 15 years

Furiosa may be one of this year's most hotly anticipated releases, but the wheels started turning on the Mad Max prequel long before even action classic Fury Road roared into cinemas.

"So Furiosa was ready, in a story sense, 15 years ago" Doug Mitchell tells Total Film in our new issue out on Thursday April 25, which features Furiosa on the cover. "And it’s been percolating, the way things do in George’s brain, ever since."

"We had finished the script of Furiosa before we shot Fury Road," Miller confirms over Zoom from Sydney.

It's certainly been a long road to get here. At one point, Furiosa was envisioned as an anime project, then titled The Peach, and was set to be directed by Mahiro Maeda, whose fingerprints have touched everything from '90s classic Neon Genesis Evangelion to Studio Ghibli, and one of the short films in The Animatrix.

Over a decade on, it's almost here. Furiosa stars Anya Taylor-Joy as the the titular warrior fighting through the Wasteland. She is joined in the cast of the Fury Road spin-off by Chris Hemsworth and Tom Burke.

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga is released in cinemas on May 24. And you can read more about it and a whole lot else besides in the new issue of Total Film when it hits shelves and digital newsstands on Thursday, April 25.

Check out the covers below:

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